Well, it's not easy because yes, I liked it, and yet there are a lot of things I didn't like. Let me explain, I liked it because Tim Roth was really good, and because I liked Gillian, and the idea was nice, specially to me since I hate lies from the heart. Yet, it had many problems.
The cases and the police/FBI -
This was a major problem, I think. It was just them. They add a cop every season simply to justify some things, but who really does everything is the Lightman Group, and this is not right. They're not cops. Yes, they added a past of counter-terrorism and war to Cal's curriculum, but it's not enough. Gillian's a psycologist, nobody in the agency has been trained as a street policeman or a fbi agent... they shouldn't be doing everything, all the investigations by themselves. It's absurd, and doesn't pay off, in the end. Plus, they had three bomb-related episodes in two seasons...1-13, 2-10, and 2-12... in the end, they just didn't know what to do with these characters, case-while.
Messed-up details about characters.
Zoe had decided to stay in town, to start her own business, to stay all three in the same city, then all of a sudden, without a word, she's far away in Chicago and Emily lives with him. Why? What happened? They didn't care to explain. Cal has Emily's custody? Did a judge decide that?? I thought they were in good enough relations, good enough not to involve judges and lawyers. Now all of a sudden he's afraid of losing custody...
Father-daughter relationship
It should have been an important part of the show, the heart of the main character, instead it was useless and boring, after a while. Always the same dynamic, over and over. Oh My God my daughter is in danger: then she never is, not even once. Then the thing about the jealous father, so boring, every single time the same thing. No more, please. She has boyfriends, we get it!! Let's not talk of that sick thing in the last episode, which was awful. I guess they meant for it to be funny, but honestly, when Sally made orgasm noises in the restaurant in front of Harry in Harry meet Sally it was funny, because they were friends, not father and daughter!!! It's very very different!! They should have done something with them. Show the heart of the man and the show via the love he had for his daughter, instead it was only a boring diversion.
Loker -
In the first few episodes I liked Loker very much, he was open and sincere, on the first episode he seemed the best, I liked so much this thing that apparently he always told the truth, even when not asked. I hate lies, and this was so charming and lovely, always telling the truth. It lasted five episodes, then everything changes, he says his first innocent lie, and from that moment he was not the same any more. He betrays Gillian, lies to everyone, involves Ria in lying for him, on ep 9 he's all angry against rich people, judgemental about women caring only about money! He had such a nasty look. From that on, he'll never be the same character I liked so much in the first ep, he was so often annoying, I was like :do it for real, go get another job and stop all this moaning! It was a bit funny when he pretended to be an agent, but it'd had been funnier had he stayed a candid sweet guy, but that is long gone. Yes, I liked him singing, but one nice episode is not enough.
We meet Duprée, Ria starts going out with him in the same episode, then we know nothing more until he returns for the drama, when he's blown up and ends up in the hospital, then they don't even say a word of what has become of him. In the next series they've all forgotten him, even Ria. Same thing happens to Ben, he gets shot at the end of season 2, and it takes a while in season 3 before they spend a line to tell us if he's alive or not, like they don't care at all.
Also, none of the other characters leaves a permanent, or significantly recurrent mark. We see Clara a few times, but they could as well leave her out, given the little contribute she brings.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that they can understand without fail if a person is lying or telling the truth, and even understand all the other emotions from micro-expressions on people's faces, no problem with that, I'd like to know someone like that myself. My problem is, however, in the way they use it. Knowing what emotion a person is feeling, doesn't tell you why! Example: in an episode, a journalist went to a senator asking if he had paid to have sex with a prostitute, and they saw disgust in his face. Now, disgust for what? For the concept of sleeping with prostitutes, maybe his moral values refuse that? For the idea of sleeping with a girl, maybe he's gay? For the idea of paying to have sex with her, maybe he thought about it as a relationship? Or maybe disgust at how low the press has fallen? Disgust for that specific journalist asking the question, maybe he knows him already? I can see many reasons for an expression of disgust to appear on his face at that moment, and what did they see? He felt disgust, as if the idea of sleeping with her is disgusting to him, clearly they are father and daughter.... come on, seriously???? They didn't know him, nor the journalist, nothing, and yet they guessed it all just like that! You see how absurd it is, right?? It's not possible to know the "why?" from an expression, because people are different; the expressions might very well be the same, but the reasons behind them are not.
This is why they're not enough to solve important cases. Their group should be an important, valuable asset, yes, but should not be everything there is. There should be proper investigators; it's as if in Bones Brennan and Angela went around investigating without Booth, it would be so wrong because they're not detectives, they're scientists (well, in this case, a scientist and an artist).
I don't understand why Cal won't let anyone touch him, like he's always leaning back out of sight whenever Gillian's trying to help him, after he gets hurt. They planned it from the beginning, meaning for it to be a long-term development? Like slowly telling us how much he cares for her, loves her (and this bit we got at the end of season 3), then slowly explaining how scared he is of ruining the most important relationship he has and thus losing his best friend that he loves so much, because in relationships he can't just shut-up, he has to ruin them and he knows it, knows that he'll screw things up risking losing Gillian forever, so not only he never did anything about his feelings for her, but he even tried to avoid as much as possible anything that might lead to that... which we might have seen in season 5, maybe... but we'll probably never see it, I heard nothing about going on with new season, no news on season 4 coming up, have you?
A recollection of everything important that happened, aside from the cases.
season 1
ep 1 We meet everyone,dr Cal Lightman, Dr Gillian Foster the bad liar, and Eli Loker who always tells the truth. They hire Ria Torres, a 'natural' at spotting lies or other emotions on faces.
ep 3 Dr Lightman is worried for his daughter after she's brought to him by the police because she threw a party.
ep 6 Loker says his first lie, and Gillian tells of when she almost adopted a little baby, but she was taken back by her mom.
ep 7 we see who's the woman that Gillian's husband is seeing
ep 8 we learn that Cal's mother had committed suicide, plus Loker disobeys Gillian, getting a fraud-thief woman arrested, but now a lot of people will never get back what had been stolen from them. I agree that the woman should pay, but is that more important than all those people?? Normal people who needed that money, and he didn't care at all, lied face-to-face to Gillian, and involved Ria in this by telling her the truth and asking her to cover for him. What a selfish brat!
ep 9, the pretty girl is called Nadia!!!
ep 10 Cal's ex-wife hires him, and he still has feelings for her, and maybe she has too, since they sleep together
ep 11 Loker finally comes clean, and Gillian explains that her husband is an ex-addict, and the blond is his sponsor, and she was trying to help him.
ep 13 there's the first of the bomb cases, and Ria's boyfriend gets into an hospital, and the season ends.
season 2
ep1 Sophie's brother Gavin is Neal from OUAT .-)
ep 2 the prosecutor is Spike from Buffy :-) with black hair though :-)
ep 3 another Buffy character :Reilly is Reiner.
ep 4 Loker plays the agent, and Gillian is so scared for Cal's safety, and Torres blames herself for screwing up, when she didn't lock the door, she was so confident in herself, he got in her car and completely surprised her). At the end, Cal is in a bar or something, hooking up with a beautiful woman, but is not comfortable after the day he had, so leaves her there and goes to Gillian's house to see how she's doing, and asks to crash in her guest's bedroom for the night while Emily's at her mom's.
ep 5 I liked that undercover-FBI agent at the end.
ep 7 Loker didn't really seem to care , did he? Fortunately Torres does, and maybe she can make him see what's important.
ep 9, Loker has a date, and he and Torres analise her espressions to understand if she's really into him or just up for the classy restaurants he takes her to... which I think was really lame of him, he's trying really hard to be like Cal, he also wants to end up alone like him?
ep 10 we see Loker entertain a bunch of little kids who can't go out because of the bomb-threat, and in the end he sings the song that they helped write.
"I say I'm ten when I'm nine and a half, my uncle tells a joke and I try to laugh, in gym I fake a headache when I want to quit, I say I love the sweater that my grandma knit, but that's [a white lie (white lie) that's the kind you want to tell, a white lie (white lie) so your mom won't have to yell, a white lie (white lie) everybody does it 'cause it feels alright and it's more polite but a lie is still a lie even when it's white.]
I pretend I'm asleep when my dad walks in, I said I ate my chicken but I just take the skin, your face can say you're lying when your mouth says you're not, your pants are on fire but they're not too hot, when it's a white lie (white lie) it's the kind you want to tell, a white lie (white lie) so your dad won't have to yell, a white lie (white lie) everybody does it 'cause it feels alright and it's more polite but a lie is still a lie even when it's white.
While it might be hard to say what's true, would you want a white lie told to you? but that's [] "
the kid's teacher sings a part too, and it's very nice, and I love that Gillian comes in but just listen without being noticed, not wanting to interrupt them, and she likes it because she mouths the chorus, lovely bit .-)
ep 11 we find out Torres is actually single now...when did that happen? So what, did Dupree die after season 1? No one said anything, I mean I know he wasn't a main character, but he had his importance, and a word would be nice, don't you think? Instead they wait till ep 11 of the next season to show us that she's single without a shadow in her mind, meaning he's history now, one way or another...
At the end, Cal went to Gillian, she was sorry that she didn't see it in the guy's face, but when Cal asked to go grab a bite together, she said no. I mean, why?? This is not the first time they did this. Why is that? I know they are independent grown-ups, with separate lives, but they're supposed to be best friends. He asked her, and after what he's been through, maybe some help from his best friend who also happen to be a psycologist might have done him some good! Why not, then? Isn't that what a friend should do, not leaving him alone in a moment like this? I think she should have asked him, and she should have insisted had he said no! Instead it went the other way around, he asked her and she said no!! Is this part of the whole Cal-Gillian-love-theme? She also tries her best to keep her distance, avoiding all those situations in which a bit more intimacy could lead to trouble, especially if some drinks were involved?? Or am I supposed to believe that he asked her to go somewhere together to eat something it was to help her that felt guilty for not seeing what he saw from the beginning? Because it looks to me like he's the one who might deserve some comforting in the situation!
ep 12 we see the first meeting between Cal and Gillian, and have another bomb-case.
ep 13 we meet Clara
ep 14 Cal says that his dad was a soldier, and back from the war went back to work and put him through college...
ep 17 - After chatting on the computer, Emily kisses Loker, and he tells Cal, and Cal hits him, then Emily invites Loker home so Cal can apologise, and invite him in for pineapple-icecream, or a beer. I liked the ending, when Cal asks her, what if he hadn't apologised, and she hits him, then he calls her 'good girl' :)
ep 18 Gillian is worried because she's in a relationship with that youth center psycologist, and he has a secret passport with a different name, but it turns out he's an undercover agent, and they admit they're in love :-)
20 - Emily reads her grandmother's diary, and finds a paternity test that Cal took the time he saw Zoe talking to a guy and he had to verify, as a scientist, he says. Emily tells him that he never trusted anyone and this is why he'll always be alone. He looks at another table and sees Foster and says 'I'm not alone', and goes to talk to her while Emily smiles.
ep 21, Loker gets promoted
22 - Cal is worried Emily might start having a sex life, but seriously being her his daughter, he's being quite naive, isn't he...
season 3
ep 1. apparently Ben's gone, so that girl detective from last season starts working with him. I preferred Ben!!! And they didn't say a word about it, we don't know what the hell happened to Ben, they only care about Cal and the case, which is preposterous, this time.
ep 2 . Loker is again thinking of changing job, and this time he actually applied for one at the Pentagon... what happened to his promotion?? He's still thinking he's underestimated there??
ep 3. What happened to 'truth at all costs' ? It seemed to be Cal's motto, but only when he likes it, apparently. He seems to have no problem with lies, when they suit him.
ep 6 - Emily has a new boyfriend, Liam. How many are they now?? This is boring. Every time the same scene, like the "my daughter is in danger" theme, and yet she never is. It has become really old now...
ep 9. now Zoe works in Chicago?? And she has a new man. I thought she had given up the whole Chicago idea , so why now she's there? I thought she had started her own business here...
ep 10 - while in the hospital, Cal talks to his mom and dad while he's on drugs, and it seems he loved his mom, but not so much his dad who was a drinker and used to beat them up... but didn't he say in season 2 that he is where he is because back from the war his father worked to put him through college? Does this mean that he was a drinker and a beater when his mom was alive, but after the war he stopped his drinking and acted good? In that case, shouldn't he have forgiven him? It appears here that he despises him... or maybe they forgot about that war-detail? Because last season there was no sign of anger when he talked about him, instead he seemed proud of what he'd been able to do.
ep 12 - the little speech Cal gives the boy was superb. When the boy says "you don't know what it's like", Cal recollects the times when his father used to hit him and his mother. Great speech, when he said 'praying' and did that hand movement it seemed very Pacino-like to me. Which is high-praise, as you can imagine.
ep 13 - I've said already that the dynamic dad-Emily has become very repetitive, every time he comes home he finds her with a boy, and all that, but this is too much. Making sex noises to annoy your father? That's not funny, that's more than wrong, that's sick. Had she been a friend, it might have been funny, sure, but his teenage daughter?? What the hell was that?? And at the end, she leaves him because he doesn't believe in sex before marriage...well in a way that's probably the right result of a Cal-Zoe pair...
I loved the end, when Cal admits to Emily that he really loves Gillian, which would be much more interesting had they made a season 4. Instead it all ends here. Will they ever make a new season?
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